MATED TO FATHER, FAT Chapter 66: THE SUMMONING

Chapter 66: THE SUMMONING

AMARIS

Nia turned to look at me with raised eyebrows. "You didn’t tell me that Victor and you had a conversation."

"I didn’t know it was that important," I defended, feeling guilty even though I genuinely had not known. "Considering you people have not even told me fully who he is."

"Well get dressed," Nia tossed the dress at me, "because you are about to find out."

I caught the fabric and stood up, my legs protesting the movement. I needed a shower first, needed to wash away the evidence of last night that was still clinging to my skin even though I knew water could not erase what had happened.

I walked to the bathroom and turned on the water as hot as I could stand it, stepping under the spray and scrubbing at my skin like I could physically remove Ryker and Rowan from my body. Their scents were embedded in me, fur and apples mixing with my own smell until I could not tell where I ended and they began.

I washed my hair twice, used half a bottle of body wash, stood under the water until my skin turned pink from the heat and the scrubbing.

It did not help.

I could still feel Ryker’s hands on me, could still taste him on my tongue, could still hear the sounds I made while he was inside me. I still saw Rowan’s face inches from mine right before Nia interrupted, still feeling the way my heart had stuttered when he admitted he wanted to have me. The sick part is that I had accommodated the thought for a second.

I turned off the water and stood dripping on the bathroom floor, staring at my reflection in the foggy mirror.

Who was I?

A couple of weeks ago I was just a girl being sold to pay off her father’s debts, resigned to whatever fate awaited me in a pack that did not want me. Now I was caught between three men who each wanted me for different reasons, all of them wrong, all of them dangerous.

I had slept with one.

Kissed another.

And was supposed to mate with the third.

This was a disaster of epic proportions and I had no one to blame but myself for every single choice that led me here.

I dried off and got dressed in the navy dress Nia had picked, pulling my wet hair back into a simple braid because I did not have the energy for anything more complicated. I looked at myself in the mirror and tried to see what they saw, tried to understand what made me worth the trouble or was I even the cause or rather an effect of an already sick and messed up pack.

I just looked tired.

And scared.

And like someone who was in way over her head with no idea how to swim.

Nia was waiting when I came out of the bathroom, her expression softening when she saw me. "You okay?"

"Fine," I lied for what felt like the hundredth time today.

She did not look convinced but she did not push, just linked her arm through mine and led me out of my room toward whatever disaster awaited in the board room.

We walked through hallways I was starting to recognize, past windows that showed the pack grounds bathed in morning sunlight, past doors that probably hid secrets I did not want to know about.

The board room was at the end of a long corridor, the double doors made of dark wood that looked heavy and expensive. Nia paused outside and gave me a look that might have been sympathy or might have been pity.

"Ready?" she asked.

No. "Yes."

She pushed open the doors and we walked inside.

The room was large with a long table in the center surrounded by chairs, most of them already occupied. My eyes immediately went to the head of the table where Alpha Corvin sat looking as imposing and controlled as ever, his dark eyes tracking my entrance.

Sentinels lined the walls in their uniforms, standing at attention like toy soldiers waiting for orders. I recognized a few faces from the engagement party but most were strangers who probably thought I was the worst thing to happen to this pack.

Then my gaze found Rowan.

He sat on the right side of the table dressed in the same white shirt from earlier, his expression carefully neutral when our eyes met. But I saw the tension in his shoulders, saw the way his hands gripped the edge of the table like he needed something to hold onto.

And in the far corner, leaning against his chair with his arms crossed and that infuriating smirk on his face.

Ryker.

Our eyes locked and my wolf slammed against my ribs so hard I actually stumbled a step. Nia steadied me with a concerned look but I could not tear my gaze away from him, neither did I stop memorizing every detail of his face and trying to read the expression that gave nothing away.

He looked at me like last night never happened.

Like he had not been inside me, had not made me scream his name, had not walked out while I cried on the bathroom floor.

Just looked at me with casual interest like I was mildly entertaining at best.

The fury that flooded through me was viciously centered around myself and slightly directed at him and entirely unproductive because what did I expect? For him to declare his undying love in front of his father and the entire leadership of the pack?

Alpha Corvin’s voice cut through whatever spiral I was about to fall into.

"Amaris," he said, and his tone made it clear this was not a request. "Sit down. We have much to discuss about the threat currently facing this pack."

I moved on autopilot to an empty chair, my eyes still locked on Ryker who still had not looked away, who was watching me like he was waiting for something.

I sat down and folded my hands in my lap to keep them from shaking.

This was going to be a disaster.